autism is a very funny bird and has many, many faces. how we react to those faces is also as varied as the stars in the sky! a quiet, calm voice is key even in the most tumultuous meltdown. even our body language needs to reflect comforting, safeness, calming to our kids. the meltdown constitutes that our kids have reached their limit, their basic abilities to cope have broken, they are saying enough is enough.

we need to help bring them back to a place where they will be able to listen, give even one word responses, respond to their picture page, book, strip… the chaos of the environment needs to calm, we have control over this, our kids respond to that which they perceive is happening… it is a hard, difficult process… most important we need to be able to understand what our kids want, or are trying to say, what they need, we need to lessen their frustration.

afterwards we should look back and see what caused say, Korey’s meltdown, what happened, what might have been said, what did he see, looking for any word, sight, smell, whatever, that pushed him over the edge. could be he said a word completely expecting to be understood and we do not understand at all!!! frustration levels then increase on all of us!

we know the behavior or uproar or screaming has occurred, when we know what may have, as we dont always get down to the specific nitty gritty, caused the meltdown, we can then work on, in play time or during homework,  in social stories or just kinda talking during a walk around the house or the neighborhood, how we can avoid having that situation jump in our lives in the future. it maybe just a evaluation with others of what actions need to be done or things to try and avoid, sometimes I just talk to myself! and see what I can do to help avoid the meltdown triggers. thinking out of the box is usually the best route, keeps our kids not expecting the usual! routine can be safe but is not what life in the outside world is all about!

when enough is enough then we better put our thinking caps on and think of ways to help our kids adjust to whatever the situation is so that the world does not become something only viewed through locke windows.